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Rays' Dream Losing Steam - Fast

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - So here we are.

The Miracle needs a miracle.

It's coming apart. After a season of never saying never, defeating all comers, beating all odds, an unimaginable journey that swept up any self-respecting underdog lover, it's down to this for these Rays of hope.

Win or go home.

And if you do win, go home and win two more.

There's no way around anything but grand canyon the Rays find themselves in after getting their cow bells rung 10-2 by the Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series.

They're staring at one, two, three elimination games.

And the first one is a beauty - tonight at Citizens Bank Park, against Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, 4-0 this postseason, and in front of towel-wielding of unbrotherly nut cases who haven't waved home a world champion in 28 years.

That's where Joe Maddon's Rays are this morning, needing magic and more magic to finish the story the way it should finish.

It can't end this way, can it?

The Rays needed to win Game 4.

They were thumped.

They were overpowered.

The Phillies simply look rougher and tougher.

They have an edge to them.

It can't end this way, can it?

It can't end with those futile swings from Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria, who are dissolving before our very eyes. These two have meant so much. Now they're coming up so empty when it matters most.

It can't end the way it ended in the ninth inning of Game 3 early Sunday morning, the great unraveling, with nightmare miscues costing the Rays a game they've all season.

It can't end the way it did in Game 4, with the Phillies overpowering Andy Sonnanstine in four innings. With Ryan Howard driving two bombs out, with Jayson Werth driving one out - heck, with Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton driving one out.

So here we are.

Forty-two times in the World Series a team has fallen behind 3-1. Only six teams have come back.

The Rays need to get back home, easier said than done, because they haven't done the things that got them here this season.

There have been mistakes at the plate, in the field, on the mound. Here in Independence Central, and when in the course of human events, events have gone all wrong. The Rays are ragged, they are dazed.

We saw it as Sonnanstine, so reliable this postseason, struggled mightily.

We saw it as Evan Longoria argued that awful umpire's call in the first. Longoria did tag Jimmy Rollins.

What else could go wrong?

You could see it in Longo's face.

With the chant of "Eva" ringing down on him from the stands, he struck out three more times and went hitless again. So did Carlos Pena in front of him, with two strikeouts. They're the M&M twins - Muck and Mire.

The Phillies big bats have turned red hot. The heart of the Rays order is out of order. Pena is 0-for-13 in the Series and Longoria is 0-for-16. Have you ever? Combined, they're 1 for their last 45 in the postseason (.022).

So here we are.

There have been few stories like the 2008 Rays.

They've been a dream.

The dream needs a comeback.

The Miracle needs a miracle.

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